President Joe Biden turned his State of the Union speech Thursday night into an animated argument for a second term as he laced into Republican front-runner Donald Trump for espousing “resentment, revenge and retribution" and jeopardising freedom at home and abroad.
Revelling in the political moment, Biden fired multiple broadsides at “my predecessor” without ever mentioning Trump by name – 13 times in all – raising his voice repeatedly as he worked to quell voter concerns about his age and job performance while sharpening the contrast with his all-but-certain rival in the November US presidential election.